Women in School Administration: Exclusion and Isolation

Abstract

This paper explores discrimination against women in education, but more particularly, their experiences in administration. It uses two associated concepts as a partial means of explaining their under-representation in the area. The first of these – exclusion—as viewed as “prohibiting” access to administrative posts; and the second – isolation—is stipulated to be a reduction of substantive decision making relative to men in similar posts. Both the review of the literature and the survey data showed that there was a strong tendency, especially during the mid-1980s, for women to be under-represented in the field of practical educational administration and related research publications. The data in Trinidad and Tobago also substantiated the worldwide trends. The paper ends by examining the theories that purport to explain gender bias and it also supports the use of each, or an appropriate synthesis of a few of them, wherever possible, as an explanatory device. Recommendations are made with respect to how women may work to improve their numbers and make substantive contributions to the theory and practice of educational administration.